“You will be able to walk-in, be among the vegetation and you’ll see the animatronic dinosaurs in as far as we can tell what would have been their natural habitat.

“In terms of size of exhibition, and the degree to which it will span the whole museum site, I don’t think we’ve ever attempted anything on this scale before. It will be massive.”

Dr Mikael Siversson, the museum’s curator of palaeontology, said the attraction was grounded in the latest scientific theories about how dinosaurs would have looked and sounded.

This includes a depiction of a feathered velociraptor that is almost unrecognisable to the scaled reptiles which terrified moviegoers in Jurassic Park 21 years ago.

The colour of the velociraptor animatronic model was influenced by recent discoveries in east China where pigmentation was found preserved in fossil deposits.

“We wanted them to be as scientifically accurate as possible,” Dr Siversson said.

“I want the visitors – and kids in particular – to get a true sense of just how big these were. We’re not putting them on a plinth, these are full-size dinosaurs standing on the ground.”

A terrifying 12m-long tyrannosaurus rex and 16m-tall brachiosaurus – which, at three-storeys high, has to be displayed outside – are likely to be among the most popular attractions.

There will also be a section dedicated to four Australian dinosaurs – leaellynasaura, australovenator, minmi and muttaburrasaurus.

Spinosaurus, one of the star attractions on show at ‘Dinosaur Discovery - Lost Creatures of the Cretaceous’, on display at The Western Australian Museum from April 11.Source: Supplied

Another spectacular fighting scene set to amaze tens of thousands of visitors over four months was based on possibly the most extraordinary dinosaur fossil ever found.

In 1971, a fossil was unearthed in Mongolia of a velociraptor attacking a protoceratops, a smaller cousin to triceratops, with its hind claw embedded in the herbivore’s belly.

“They died as they were fighting. It could have been a sand dune that collapsed on top of them or they might have been covered during a sandstorm – and we are recreating that scene,” Dr Siversson said.

The show, which will tour Australia and Asia after its Perth premiere, was developed by the WA Museum in partnership with Goldie Marketing, who commissioned animatronic experts in China’s Sichuan province.

Dinosaur animatronics are big business and with each new generation the technology has improved – long gone are the days of creaking and hissing pneumatic models.

Once the dinosaurs were selected, clay models were made in the factory in China based on the sketches of a palaeoartist.

Digital 3D drawings were then created and motors and foam added to the huge steel structures.

“Every scale on every dinosaur was individually hand-carved. Thousands of hours have gone into making sure the detail is correct based on what we know,” Stephen Goldsworthy, of Goldie Marketing, said.

It took eight months to manufacture the dinosaurs, which Mr Goldsworthy said cost well in excess of $1.5 million and are now midway through their journey by sea container to Perth.

“From age zero to 99, we are all inquisitive about dinosaurs and the people of Western Australia are going to see something that is truly spectacular,” he said.

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